Exports of Pakistan’s textile sector witnessed a significant decline of 20%, clocking in at $1.31 billion in May in comparison to $1.64 billion recorded in the same month of the previous year, as per provisional data released by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) on Saturday.

It also showed that the country’s textile exports in the first eleven months of FY23 decreased by 15% to $15.02 billion, declining from $17.61 billion recorded in 11MFY22, a fall of $2.59 billion.

The decline in textile exports is concerning for the South Asian economy, which is heavily dependent on the textile sector for much-needed US dollars. Its central bank has reserves of just over $4 billion remaining, barely enough for a month of essential imports.

APTMA had earlier warned that the country’s textile exports could fall by $3 billion this year as compared to last year, while urging authorities to take immediate and urgent intervention.

“The decline in textile exports has been progressively accelerating,” APTMA Patron in Chief Gohar Ejaz had said in a letter to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in April.

“Given the trajectory of decline, Pakistan is likely to fall short by $3 billion in textile exports from the exports achieved last year of $19.4 billion without taking into account any increase from newly installed capacity,” Ejaz had warned.

Meanwhile, as per latest data shared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the country’s exports during July-May (2022-23) were recorded at $25.366 billion against exports of $28.871 billion in July-May of 2021-22, a decline of 12.14%.

On a month-on-month basis, the exports during May 2023 increased by 2.29% when compared to the exports of $2.137 billion in April 2023.